Need a better onside turn - S2

[PurdueSkier]

I have been skiing on an S2 at 36 mph all year and skiing very well. My offside feels really good and really stable. I feel like I am in good position going into and coming out of most of my offside turns. It caries speed very well through the turn. The problem is when I start to scramble on my harder passes 28 and 32 off, I feel like my onside is a little slow. When I get behind and feel like I need or want a big onside turn to help makeup time, and I can't make the ski do it. I tend to get a little too far back on the ski and not stacked well. I am working on that, but is there a fin adjustment that would help with a faster (sharper) onside turn without impacting my offside too much? Right now I am at stock fin and stock binding setup.

[Wish]

I've found that the S2 doesn't respond well to cranking an on side turn (like my old Goodes). I have the same habit of pushing on the back leg to crank an on side when needed. It hardly ever works. The other thing I found is fin settings and boot placement is critical. The ski is highly sensitive to adjustments. I've played with settings for some time now (bigger adjusting learning curve on this ski for me) and am slowly creeping back to stock settings. Especially with DFT (I was forward). My boots are still a little forward of stock but not much. I would suggest boot placement move first. Then when that feels better be it forward or back, mess with DFT. I cannot say what numbers to try at 36mph and not knowing what size ski you ride. Basically everyone will have different numbers. The key I think is to adjust, try and readjust. If you want a fast learning curve try larger adjustments so you know what each will do. Document, go back to stock make fine adjustments with knowledge of what each will do. But, fine tuning can be done in stages like the boots first, then DFT and maybe length. There's some good info for adjusting fins and boots and what it does on the Goode site and D3 site and I'm sure others.

[itch2ski]

I am a much lower level skier than you so not sure how much this will help. Also, I ski the Co X SL, so different ski, but based on similar design. I was doing the same thing on my onside turns and my coach told me to move my boots forward. I have only skied once since I moved them, but it did help significantly.

[SkiJay]

The first thing I would try would be to move just the rear binding back. This makes the on-side turn easier without affecting the off-side. You can pretty much disregard the rule of thumb that suggests you should have your bindings as close together as possible. Feel free move the rear binding back as far as you want so long as you still feel comfortable on the ski. Another binding move that will improve your on-side without much effect on your off-side is to rotate the rear binding counter-clockwise if RRF or clockwise if LFF.

 

Are you confident that the stock settings on your ski were measured the same way HO takes these measurements (using the tips of the calipers for FL, and the flat of the head for FDT)? Finally, if you still want to make a fin change, reducing depth a tiny amount .002" - .003" will free up the on-side with minimal effect on the off-side. Increasing FDT .003" - .005" will also free up the ski to turn easier, but will affect your off-side turn more than the other changes (tighter pre-turn and finish). Both of these fin changes will also slightly reduce width on both sides of the course.

[jhughes]

FWIW the S2 absolutely cranks on the on-side, completely identically to the off-side for me. It'll let me push it as hard as I want on the on-side, as well, but on the off-side it insists on driving itself. That's the only difference when I ski it. My fin settings are stock other than depth which is slightly more than stock. I use a wing at the stock settings. This is at 34 and 36mph. Front boot is factory if not slightly forward and RTP puts my toes touching the back of the front boot.

[Than_Bogan]

I very recently learned from Dave Goode exactly what SkiJay says above: Rear boot back makes the on-side faster. In my case, it was TOO fast, and I needed to move my rear boot forward. In my (limited) experience, it's almost impossible to make a change that doesn't affect both sides in some way. Rear boot back won't affect the off-side as much, but eventually if you take it too far you might get some nasty tip rise over there because your neutral weight position is now a hair further back.

[h2oski]

I felt like my onside turns were slow and I did exactly what Ski Jay said, worked wonders. Make sure to counter going into that onside turn.

[Ed_Johnson]

I am surprised at the fact that no one has brought up the fact that the S2 was designed for 34 mph and the A2 for 36 mph. That may have some bearing on it, since this ski does not react well to going into any turn fast with the stepped bottom.

I feel the only chance you would have is to run the fin short and deep to sustain a higher speed turn. I would try 6.750..2.505...750..9 degrees. Bindings FWD 1/8th to 1/4 inch.

[jhughes]

I didn't mention 36 because in my experience the S2 does just fine at 36. I've only run -15 at 36 but it's a champ on both sides there.

[PurdueSkier]

Thanks for all the comments. I will try moving the back binding back and see what happens.

@EdJohnson - I am obviously not sold on the 34 mph marketing. I feel like it is more of a style difference than a speed difference. If the S2 was really a 34 mph ski, then the A2 is really only a 36 mph ski. If that is true how did Badal just set a pending WR at 34 mph on an S2? Also, many of the top pros do R&D testing at 36 mph for skis that are used at both 34 and 36. Just my thoughts. The S2 works well for me at 36, other than wanting a better onside turn.

[Chuck_Dickey]

FWIW - Badal skis on an A-2 and set both pending WR's on and A-2.

[PurdueSkier]

@chuck thank you. It was a typo on my part. I meant A2.

[Chef23]

I have heard some discussion that the S2 is better for bigger skiers and the A2 for smaller skiers. I don't know the logic of that. I skied on an S2 for a week and liked it but I am 210 lbs and thought the 67.5" A2 would be a little small.

[Chuck_Dickey]

I don't know the actual dimensional differences of the A-2 Vs S-2 but when matching lengths, the S-2 has more surface area than the A-2. I had the A-1 and A-2 and the more I ski the S-2 the better I like it.

[Chuck_Dickey]

@Chef23

 

at 210# the 67.5" S-2 should be fine

[Chef23]

@Chuck Dickey the S2 was fine at 210. I couldn't take the one I was skiing on so I had ordered one then changed my mind when it was back ordered. I did like the ski a lot and skied within a buoy of my practice PB (3@35 off) right down the rope in my first set on it.